If anyone needs to rebut charges of the dangers of ferrets in
statistical terms - the statistics below on dogs/cats come from Pubmed,
one state's stats, and a CDC site.

"Dog and cat bites account for $30 million in annual health care
costs nationwide and 1% of ER visits. Cat bites have a higher rate
of infection than dog bites. Puncture wounds, hand wounds, and wounds
that are greater than 24 hours old are at higher risk for infection. A
relatively common infection as the result of a cat bite is Pasteurella
multocida infection. This organism is found in the mouth of basically
all cats

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC)' most recent available statistics
state "In 2001, an estimated 368,245 persons were treated for dog bite
related injuries (rate: 129.3 per 100,000 population) . The injury rate
was highest for children aged 5--9 years and decreased with increasing
age. Approximately 154,625 (42.0%) dog bites occurred among children
aged 5-9. The majority (64.9%) of injuries to children aged less than
5 years old."

There's also a whole load of statistics online on us humans and
infanticide - but that's another whole can of worms.

Meryl

[Posted in FML 6943]